That's strange. What you describe works just fine for me. (The
gradient draws the same, whether the view is layer-backed or not, as
it should.)

Is there anything else involved in the implementation of the view that
you omitted from this code sample? I don't know of any problems that
would cause the symptom you're seeing, but if you can provide a test
project that reproduces the problem, by all means please send me a copy.